Ofsted inspects Northamptonshire child protection

Child protection services at Northamptonshire County Council are being inspected by Ofsted, after the regulator found a "number" of concerns.

The issues were highlighted in last month's joint inspection by bodies including the police, the Care Quality Commission and the county council.

Ofsted subsequently inspected the local authority's provision this week.

A spokesperson for Northamptonshire County Council said it expected the findings to be published on 20 March.

"We are committed to being open and transparent about the results of the inspection and they will be made fully public when the final report is completed," he added.

The nature of the issues raised by the multi-agency inspection are not known.

The inspection was a pilot for a scheme which aims to scrutinise the full range of services involved in child protection, rather than Ofsted's current unannounced inspections which focus solely on the local authority.

Liberal Democrat councillor Brendan Glynane said he had read the report last week but was not allowed to take notes or talk about the details.

He says it "undermines" all he has been told about the children and young people services.

"I was truly shocked by some of the findings in the report and some of the things that are happening to our children and young people," he said.

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: "Northamptonshire Local Authority offered to take part in a pilot joint inspection of the multi-agency arrangements for the protection of children in January 2013.

"As a result of the pilot inspection, which does not generate a publishable report, we found a number of child protection concerns and therefore carried out an Ofsted only led inspection recently."